Former FBI director James Comey was indicted on criminal charges Thursday, making him the first former senior government official to be charged in connection to the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Comey was charged with making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case, days after U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute him and other perceived political enemies.

If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison.

Comey said he was innocent and that he had faith in U.S. judicial system.

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I am innocent, so let’s have a trial and keep the faith,” he said in a video message posted to Instagram. 

Trump and his supporters have long derided the Russia investigation as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign.

The charge of making a false statement stems from testimony Comey made to Congress five years ago. Republicans have accused both Comey and his successor, Andrew McCabe, of lying about leaks to the media. 

A conviction would require a jury to find Comey knowingly lied with intent to deceive.

Trump and his allies react 

Shortly after the charges were announced, Trump posted on his social media platform, writing, “JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” He called Comey “One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to” and said he is “now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, and FBI Director Kash Patel, a longtime vocal critic of the Russia investigation, issued similar statements in a joint news release.

No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.

—@AGPamBondi

“No one is above the law,” Bondi said.

While both an inspector general report and a special counsel report faulted Comey for some of his comments and actions during the agency’s Russia-related investigation, neither report suggested he committed a potentially criminal act.

Patel said previous U.S. leadership “weaponized federal law enforcement.” 

“Today, your FBI took another step in its promise of full accountability,” he said in his statement.

The criminal case is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department under Bondi is being weaponized to pursue investigations, and now prosecutions, of public figures the president regards as his political enemies.

The grand jury’s indictment came after the president mentioned Comey by name in a social media post chiding Bondi for not moving quickly enough to bring criminal charges against his most prominent antagonists, writing “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW.”

Man in a suit walks and holds a microphone out to a woman in a white suit Lindsey Halligan, former special assistant to the president, seen here in August, was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after the chief prosecutor resigned. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press )Case filed after chief prosecutor resigned

The office that filed the case against Comey, the Eastern District of Virginia, was thrown into turmoil last week following the resignation of chief prosecutor Erik Siebert under pressure to bring charges against another Trump target, New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a mortgage fraud investigation.

Trump nominated Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide, to serve as U.S. attorney for the district. She has been one of Trump’s personal lawyers and does not have experience as a federal prosecutor.

Halligan rushed to present the case to a grand jury this week. Prosecutors had until Tuesday to bring a case before the five-year statute of limitations expired. The push to move forward came even as prosecutors in the office expressed concerns, in a memo, about pursuing an indictment.

Prosecutions for lying to Congress are rare, but not unheard of, and defendants have included Trump ally Roger Stone as well as Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer.

Comey, like all FBI directors before or since, was a registered Republican. Democratic President Barack Obama appointed him to the role, and Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign praised Comey for having the “guts” to reopen an investigation into rival Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server years earlier when she was secretary of state.

But Trump and Comey have had an acrimonious relationship since the start of the president’s first term in 2017. Trump fired Comey as FBI director days after he publicly confirmed that the president was under investigation over his election campaign’s connections to Russia.

Comey then emerged as a prominent critic of the president, calling him “morally unfit” for office.